"This EU project is heading in one direction: towards greater centralisation of power in Brussels. ... Only by winning the referendum and leaving the EU can we ensure that we become a self-governing, independent nation."

This was illustrated just last night when a report – an ultimate EU wish list – was discussed in the European Parliament by the federalist fanatics in Brussels. The title of the report reads: “On improving the functioning of the European Union building on the potential of the Lisbon Treaty”.

A working document, which will soon become a draft report, was drawn up by Elmar Brok. One of the most experienced and certainly the most powerful and well connected of MEPs who acted as co-rapporteur, he is Chairman of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and regarded as Angela Merkel’s ‘Vicar on Earth’ in Brussels. When he makes a proposal you can be sure it is with the knowledge and approval of Germany’s Frau Merkel. And in the EU these days, what Angela wants, Angela gets.

None of the prevarication or double-dealing we hear from David Cameron is involved here – just the unvarnished truth of what, as she said, the majority of people in Brussels want.
This included the removal of all national vetoes at European Council level, a more binding framework for economic policy coordination, a fiscal union with a common Corporate Tax base and VAT system where the EU is funded by VAT raising powers, and a financial transaction tax. They want a banking and a capital markets union, as well as a European Energy agency to make sure there is no competition for cheaper energy.

They want the EU Border Agency, Frontex, to be strengthened and given the ability to enter states without being asked. At the same time they want to move towards a common EU army, and the creation of a permanent military operational headquarters. One of their wishes is to see an increasing use of EU military battlegroups as an “initial entry force” to enhance the EU’s defence capabilities.